Animation: The Dreaded Dreamworks

 



“It seems to me as if most of the traditional narrative animation is endlessly repeating itself. With minor variations, the form seems to have been set a long time ago.”

- Jean Detheux

I remember being in the theatre a few weeks ago for Disney’s live action “Cinderella” and what really struck me is just how similar all of the movie trailers were. Safe, predictable, marketable. Especially the Dreamworks computer animated pictures. UGH. Talk about groan-worthy.

We see the same glossy, slick style of animation, the same goofy story with glib cynical characters. I dreaded each one, exchanging eye rolls with my mother who sat next to me. Having seen several DreamWorks movies in the past few years, I'd say the experience is similar to eating cotton candy: pretty to look at but no substance. 

Sitting in the theatre was painful as we watched a parade of "Here is the one with monsters and a fart joke! And the next one with aliens and a burping joke!" These films sell, though, and seem to encourage the same style, endlessly repeating until someone takes a risk and tries something different. These movies seem to be following in the style of “Shrek” with it’s animation style and crude, cynical humor, which was interesting and different at the time, but now just completely worn out.

I believe that DreamWorks began on this path of mediocrity around somewhere after the success of "Shrek" and has continued up until this point.

DreamWorks IS capable of making BEAUTFUL films. For example, their crowning achievement, I believe, is "The Prince of Egypt" in 1999. This is a film with gorgeous animation, innovative sequences and just some really cool ideas (how rather than casting one actor, the film combined the voices of all of the cast to create the voice of God? What a great idea!) And talk about daring, given the subject matter. I've not seen anything this sophisticated or outstanding from DreamWorks since. 

A string of successful pictures followed and hit a high point with "Shrek" in 2001. The success of these movies seemed to drop following "Shrek 2," which was not as successful as it's predecessor. Afterwards, forgettable and similar-looking bombs like "Fish Tale," "Flushed Away" and "Over the Hedge" have cemented DreamWorks with a reputation as an animation company stuck with a certain style. Just look at not only how similar the animation is, but even the style of the character's faces in promotional posters!

The Face of DreamWorks? I'm sensing a pattern here...


 However,  I did recently see a DreamWorks film that gave me hope for the future of the company. Trailers for the film "Rise of the Guardians" was another eyeroll-producing groaner for me. "Not another one," I thought. My friend finally sold me on the idea of watching it. And while this is still 3D animation that is still the DreamWorks style, the ideas in this story were just phenomenal! How creative! Original and interesting! I was blown away by the execution and imagination of this movie. This movie gives me hope that DreamWorks might be able to break free of their mold, because if they can provide very creative stories, they can perhaps someday escapes this look that they have been saddled with and try something new.



Animation: American Vs. Foreign Trailers

The work of Miyazaki

 

The reading mentioned that the trailer for the French film "Amelie" was much different in France then it is in America. I believe that American

To elaborate on the ideas presented in this reading, I would like to take a look at another series of trailers that I have noticed this particular phenomenon in. I am a fan of Hayao Miyazaki, the famed Japanese director, writer and animator (as I will go into more detail about in Blog 10) and had recently watched the movie “Howl’s Moving Castle” (which I highly recommend to anyone who has never seen it!) I looked up a trailer for the film, and I found something very similar about the English dubbed trailers vs. the Japanese movie trailer.

 
Here is the English trailer (top) and the Japanese trailer (bottom):

 

 

I don’t think that people believed, at the time, that the films would appeal to Americans if not only were they Japanese animated feature lengths, but if the complex and, quite frankly bizarre, storylines were left completely untranslated by the narrator. So if you watch the Japanese version of the “Howls moving castle” the voice acting is very subtle. There is some mystery and excitement about what is happening. I like when trailers don’t reveal everything right away, so that not only does it peak interest but it doesn’t ruin the whole story.

The American trailer of this film was narrated heavily and, as someone who has seen the Japanese version of the film with subtitles, the synopsis is waters the plot down so badly, it makes it as if the trailer were only for children, which I think is intentional.

I think that Disney, who distributes Studio Ghibli films in the States, believes that it’s safer and more marketable to go with a more spelled out method of storytelling through the trailer. Rather than rely on scenes and dialogue put together, they need a narrator to make it as simple as possible, when I think this is unnecessary. I’ve found this often in not only Japanese films vs. American films, but in many foreign films against American features (as is the case with “Amelie,” a French picture.)

I think that this is done to market to children in the US by explaining what is happening, which I think is a little insulting to children by treating them like they can’t piece together without having a voice telling them what’s going on, and to adults to explain something that might come across as too bizarre.

I think the concept of subtly in American filmmaking, especially regarding trailers, is often overlooked in favor of in-your-face action and spelling everything out. I think that trailers that treat the audience like they’ve got a brain and can value a little mystery in a film trailer should be encouraged and I hope to see more of.

 



Animation: The Miyazaki Phenomenon

 

Hayao Miyazaki

 

"Animators can only draw from their own experiences of pain and shock and emotions."

- Hayao Miyazaki

I believe that the most important phenomenon in animation history is the relatively recent popularity of Hayao Miyazaki’s films and their recognition as legitimate filmmaking here in the U.S. For so long, North American audiences had perceived animation to be a genre of filmmaking that was geared almost exclusively for children.

Director, writer and animator Hayao Miyazaki is the genius and driving force behind such classic animated features as “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

The titular castle from "Howl"

 

Miyazaki’s films are sophisticated, in both story and animation. His distinct style blends fantasy and magic with themes of love, family, environmentalism, and growing up.

I think that the popularization of these films (made popular by their Oscar nominations), has not only battled the concept that cartoons are for children and that the Japanese variety are all run-of-the-mill anime.

 

"Spirited Away" won Best Animated Picture in 2001

 

The popularity of Miyazaki’s work has opened the door for Studio Ghibli and other Japanese animated features and filmmakers.

 

Miyazaki’s works have a personal touch to them, dignified and sophisticated, but sensitive and deeply moving, as they are often about fantasy and childhood. They can be frightening and strange, but also whimsical and breath-taking. The scope and power of these films has ensured Miyazaki’s respected position as one of the world’s most well-loved animation directors.

 

Miyazaki began filmmaking back in the late seventies and began to see a bit of recognition after “Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind” was released in Japan in 1984. Miyazaki became an absolute hit in 1997 after the release of his feature length “Princess Mononoke,” which broke all box office records in Japan at the time. His next film (and my personal favorite of his work), “Spirited Away,” was nominated for an academy award and won an Oscar for best Animated Picture.

 

The award drew American attention to the Japanese filmmaker. That was the first time that I had heard about it, so I looked up the film and it just blew me away! I'd wondered why I'd never heard of this man and his beautiful films before. I'd never seen a trailer for a Miyazaki film on any of my VHS tapes that I watched, until after the success of "Spirited Away." Disney was really starting to push Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's work and more adults and children were taking notice.

 

The amazingly detailed and rich style that Miyazaki's films are known for.

Since the release of "Princess Mononoke" in Japan and "Spirited Away" in The United States, Hayao Miyazaki's genius has been recognized and he has been hailed as a master filmmaker. His fanbase is huge, particularly among young adults and fans of Japanese animation. Miyazaki's films have served to draw attention to Japanese animation as more than "anime" as we traditionally know it, with scantily clad girls and giant robots. Miyazaki's films are mature and beautiful, often with heavy subject matter mixed with fanciful imagery. Miyazaki's work appeals to not only for children, but something far more universal. The films of Hayao Miyazaki appeal to the child in all of us.

 

 

 

Animation: Triumph or Treacle?

A common thing I find many animated features that I see anymore is that they are just so sentimental and they push for all of their characters to be "cute" that it just puts me, as a viewer, off. There is a sort of insincerity to it all that I dislike. As a both a viewer and a filmmaker, you need to be able to appeal to the mind and heart in a genuine and subtle way.

I think that sometimes story-telling can be so rigid and so “Point A to Point B” that you lose the heart of it all. This heart should be allowed to grow when the audience is giving some time with the characters. Proper character development is essential to giving the characters that edge that will make the audience care for them.

But on the other hand, too much heart might start to lead things into the saccharine, which can feel like very cheap and forced emotion being heaped onto the viewer. Things can get too cute and cuddly and this can feel very manipulative.

There is a scene in “The Rescuers” (an oft overlooked little Disney Classic”) that is mentioned in the book that seems to teeter on this point of being subtly moving and being a little too sentimental

 This scene introduces a little orphan girl, Penny, and a cat Rufus. This scene has all of the potential to be sickeningly sweet, but doesn’t completely overstep it. The relationship between the cat and the girl feels real. The animation serves their relationship so well, that even when they don’t speak to one another, you feel their connection, like when the cat rubs up against her, like all cats do. And as children usually are, she is very affectionate to the cat (perhaps a little too much so, as she drags him around like she does her beloved teddy bear.)

In the scene little Penny explains that she is sitting along because it was "adoption day" at her orphanage and that there was a couple that ignored her and instead adopted a "prettier" child. Over the course of the scene Rufus the cat builds up her confidence again. However, things get perhaps a little too sweet while he is explaining faith, but the scene is still powerful and the animation between the two would explain exactly what the two meant to each other even if you mute the dialogue. They work perfectly as a pair and I think that is what you hope to achieve with animation, that the movements, gestures and facial expressions seek to communicate most of the scene, while the dialogue gets into specifics.


 

Another wonderful (and I mean WONDERFUL) triumph in storytelling is in Pixar’s “Up.” The first ten minutes of the film features a sequence in the life of a married couple that is sweet, but there is just enough reality to it that it feels relatable, which is I think the key to getting ahold of any audience. I just love how this scene really is aimed towards the ADULT fans of Pixar. This scene has a weight and maturity to it that allows it to be touching in a realistic way, like in the small ways that we show affection (the way the couple hold hands by reading) or the way that real life gets in the way of our dreams and expectations.
 

There must be a subtlety in the scene so that it may be sweet and relatable, but not overly sentimental, thus losing the audience all together. I think that as long as Disney films can keep the heart while still making everything in a scene feel genuine and real, then I think it’s alright to push the sweetness factor a little bit.

Animation: Steps of the Story

“The story man must clearly in his own mind how every piece of business in a story will be put above. He should feel every expression, every reaction. He should get far enough away from his story to take a second look at it…to see whether there is an dead phase…to see whether othe personalities are going to be interesting and appealing to the audience. He should also try to see that the things that his characters are doing are of an interesting nature.” – Walt Disney

 

One aspect of story-telling that I find interesting in the book “The Illusion of Life” is found in chapter 14, under “Sequences.” The author states that: “Our feature films always seemed to end up with about 14 sequences. No matter how each (story) started out, whether with high adventure or complicated stories, by the time we developed and balanced and streamlined and edited we ended with little more than a dozen.”  

I find that really fascinating! Why does fourteen seem to be the lucky number? In the book they explain the fourteen sequences in Snow White:

1.       Introduction: Queen and Mirror; Snow White in Courtyard; Arrival of the Prince.

2.       Queen orders Snow White’s death; Snow White and the Huntsman.

3.       Panic in the woods; Snow White meets animals; they take her to the dwarfs’ cottage and help clean house.

4.       Dwarves in mine; march home and find something in their house.

5.       Discover Snow White; agree to let her stay.

6.       Dwarves wash up for dinner; scrub Grumpy.

7.       Queen turns in witch.

8.       Dwarves entertain Snow White; she sings for them; dwarves giver her their bedroom.

9.       Witch prepares poisoned apple; leaves for cottage.

10.   Dwarves leave for work, after warning Snow White.

The Queen in disguise!

11.   Sequence dropped

12.   Dropped

13.   Snow White making pies; witch arrives and enters house.

14.   Animals warn dwarves; they return too late; Snow White poisoned; witch falls off cliff.

15.   Dwarves cry at Snow White’s bier.

16.   Glass coffin; Prince comes; Snow White awakened and goes with Prince.

 

They also provide an example of these steps in “The Rescuers” which was thirteen steps.

I would be interested to apply this to a more contemporary Disney film since I’ve been talking “The Little Mermaid” so much, I might as well continue the theme. Here I have broken down the film into it's sequences to see how many I could come up with.

 

An Original Story Board from "The Little Mermaid."

 

The Little Mermaid

1.       Introduction

2.       Meet Ariel and Flounder, shark Chase Sequence; Meeting Scuttle

3.       Ariel and Her Father argue

4.       “Part of your World” sequence, Flotsam and Jetson, brief intro to Ursula.

5.       Ariel goes to the surface, sees Prince Eric, saves him from drowing, vows to be “part of his world.”

6.       “Under the Sea” sequence, Ariel’s father destroys her collection.

7.       Ariel makes a deal with Ursula (“Poor Unfortunate Souls”) and goes to surface where she meets Eric.

8.       Ariel spends three days with Eric. Tries to get him to kiss her (“Kiss the Girl”) so she can stay human.

Eric meets Ariel as a human

9.       Ursula turns herself human and hypnotizes Eric. Ariel heartbroken while their marriage barge sails away. Wedding mishap.

10.   Ariel gets her voice back, King Triton sacrifices himself to Ursula.

11.   Battle of Ariel and Eric vs. Ursula. Ursula makes herself gigantic and Eric spears her with a ship.

12.   King Triton gives Ariel legs. Ariel rejoins Eric on land.

13.   Ariel and Eric wedding ship scene, Triton gives his blessing. Ship sails off into distance.

When I’ve broken it down into all of the sequences in the movie, I think that the “about 14” rule works! I think that this length of sequences is just right, too. The story has a long enough time to develop and grow, without being too long or dragging. So say that you have a story with 12 sequences. That means that with three parts of the story, the beginning, middle and end, you have about four sequences to build each part of the story, which, I think makes for a firm foundation. When you add about two or three more sequences, I think that it could serve to beef up the story a little in places where not enough might have been explained or shown.

I believe that it’s no coincidence the animators seemed to keep falling into this 14 sequence plan. I think that once people discover a formula and it just seems to work over and over, why not continue with it? Sure, it’s not pushing new boundaries, but I think that anything less than 10 sequences is a short and anything over fourteen might just be a little too overblown. I think that this is the right amount of time to settle for in a full length animated feature.

Cultural Attendance: Brandon Kirk Lecture

 

Brandon Kirk with "Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy"

 

 

I attended Brandon Kirk's lecture in Scarborough Library on April 9th, on his book "Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy." Mr. Kirk discussed his book on the history of famous feuding families in the state, which was made especially interesting as he is a descendent of one of the feuding families and has gathered information about his ancestors. The event was free to the public and featured a very nice desert spread.

Mr. Kirk presented a slide show and broke down the history of the events surrounding the feud into little parts, making it a little easier to not only understand the intricate details of how the feuds began, but also the history and motivations of the people who engaged in the feuds.

I really like his insistence in keeping a very neutral and balanced view of the families, and his attempt to understand all sides of the story and collect as much information as possible.

 

I would definitely be interested in buying and reading Mr. Kirk's novel, as the content was not only informative, but really fascinating.

Cultural Attendance: Jazz Night

The band setting up for the show

I attended Jazz Night, an event hosted by the Shepherd Jazz Band and the Music Department.
The Shepherd Jazz Band played in the Frank Center Theatre. The event was on April 7th, from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm.

The turnout was good and the audience was receptive. I’m a big fan of Jazz, Swing and Big Band, so the type of music was up my alley. The band consisted of a trumpets, trombones, cello, French horn, guitar, piano and even an oboe. The band’s conductor would switch out the band, who were made up of two different groups, to play selections of more contemporary numbers. There were some very talented musicians in the group, lots of really great solos (the trumpeters especially stood out to me.)

The whole event was lively and enthusiastic. If there had been room, I could see people possibly swing-dancing to some of the selections. My foot certainly was tapping.
I enjoyed this event and would like to attend more events with the Shepherd Jazz band.